Return men: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett return as Celtics beat Wizards

Posted By
Mike Petraglia
On
April 7, 2013 @ 8:23 pm
In
General |
5 Comments

Paul Pierce[1] scored 15 and Kevin Garnett[2] added 10 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes as the Celtics[3] beat the Wizards, 107-96, Sunday night at TD Garden. The Celtics were 3-5 in the eight games Garnett missed with inflammation and bone spurs in the left ankle.

Pierce missed only Friday’s game with a sore right ankle, as the Celtics recovered from Friday’s embarrassing 97-91 loss to the Cavaliers[4], a game that snapped Cleveland’s 10-game losing streak.

Not only did the Celtics (40-37) get their two star regulars back from foot injuries, Boston took a step closer toward clinching the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference as they lead the Bucks by two games in the loss column with five games left to play.

Chris Wilcox[5] had a big first half off the Boston bench, scoring eight points and helping the Celtics to a 56-52 halftime lead. Wilcox finished 5-of-6 from the field and led all Boston bench scorers with 13 points.

Leading the way was forward Brandon Bass[6] with 20 points as the Celtics outscored the Wizards, 31-19, in the third quarter and built an 18-point lead.

Bass shot 9-of-12 from the field and played a team-high 36 minutes to lead the Celtics, who watched as the Wizards closed the lead down to 10 with three minutes remaining but could get no closer.

Boston is off Monday and Tuesday before finishing their four-game homestand on Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets at 8 p.m. at TD Garden.

For more from Mike Petraglia from the Garden, visit the Celtics team page at weei.com/celtics[7].